From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

Mayor Josip sat silently in his seat, not daring to speak out, for fear of disturbing His Excellency Bonaparte's contemplation.

It wasn't until Lawrence opened his eyes and his expression relaxed a little that Mayor Joseph cautiously suggested:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, I'm afraid that's all the valuable information I have here. I have also compiled the statements of the refugees who fled the famine into a book. If you need it, you can take it with you before leaving."

Lawrence rubbed his dizzy head vigorously and decided to put this new mystery aside for now. In the absence of further information, it would be difficult for Lawrence to deduce the truth of everything with just a smart mind.

For Lawrence, the most important thing at the moment is to win over Mayor Josip to his side, and through his status as a mayor, he can gradually help Lawrence establish a foundation in Marseille.

As for how to win over Mayor Joseph, Lawrence is completely familiar with this, which is to establish common interests between both parties, and then use the link of interest to closely connect the two people.

"Then please, Mr. Alderman, please pass those books to my followers."

Lawrence smiled and nodded gently. After leaving these words, he silently played with the crystal goblet in his hand.

Mayor Joseph waited for a while, and after seeing that Lawrence had no intention of speaking, he asked cautiously:

"By the way, Your Excellency Bonaparte, didn't you just say that as long as there is external help, it is not impossible to achieve some short-term political achievements in Marseille? What do you mean?"

"This is actually very simple."

Lawrence shook the wine glass in his hand, watched the crystal clear sherry wine form a steady vortex at the bottom of the glass, and said with a chuckle:

"Mr. Alderman, what aspect of Marseille do you think the Palace of Versailles values ​​most?"

"Which way."

Mayor Joseph couldn't help but become nervous. He could tell from His Excellency Bonaparte's tone that he might still have a glimmer of hope, so he immediately began to think deeply, as anxious as a student who was temporarily inspected by the teacher.

After a while, Mayor Joseph said tentatively:

"While ensuring order and stability, I think the king and ministers are most concerned about the economic situation of Marseille. The tax paid by our city is close to five million livres every year, ranking only after Paris and Lyon. The Palace of Versailles A lot of the food and clothing expenses here are Marseille silver coins.”

"Exactly, Mr. Alderman."

Lawrence put down his wine glass, clapped his hands gently, and said with a smile:

"As long as you can make Marseille's economy develop rapidly, even for a period of time, this will be enough to give the Duke of Choiseul a good reason to propose your promotion in front of the king."

"Rapid economic development."

Mayor Joseph's eyes lit up. Although he knew that it was almost impossible to achieve this with his own abilities, since His Excellency Bonaparte specifically mentioned this, it meant that there must be a way to achieve it.

So he asked excitedly:

"What do you mean, Monsignor Bonaparte?"

"You should know that I have a large amount of liquid funds in my hands, right?" Lawrence crossed his hands and supported his chin, looking at Mayor Yosip and asked.

"Of course, of course, it's the funds of the Corsica National Silver Company." Mayor Yosip nodded repeatedly.

Over the years, Mayor Josip, who has been seeking an upward path, has focused 70% of his thoughts on the situation in Paris. Therefore, regarding the recent heavy news in the Paris financial world, the news of the listing of the National Silver Company of Corsica , Mayor Yosip certainly knows it well.

"If I remember correctly"

Mayor Joseph knocked his head, tried his best to recall the news about the company, and then said:

"The Corsican National Silver Company's working capital should be eighteen million livres, if you haven't already invested that money."

The way Mayor Joseph got the news was naturally from the false statements disclosed by Mr. Montmartre and Lord Melly, so he thought that Lawrence had a huge wealth of nearly 20 million livres.

Of course Lawrence would not take the initiative to expose this lie, so he nodded in approval and said:

"Yes, then you should know that this money will not only be used for the development of the Ajaccio silver mine, but also for the construction of Corsica."

Mayor Josip nodded in agreement one after another. As an upper-middle-class figure in French political circles, he was also very aware of this kind of left-hand and right-hand trick. Naturally, such a huge wealth would not be invested entirely in that silver mine. development, after all, Corsica today is in dire straits, and every place is crying out for funding.

"As for the construction of Corsica, our island also needs an external window if it wants to develop."

Lawrence tapped the table and continued:

"I think Marseille might be that window."

Mayor Yosip opened his mouth subconsciously, and a series of numbers flashed rapidly in his head.

Eighteen million livres, as long as one-fifth, no, even one-tenth of it can be invested in Marseille, Mayor Josip feels that he has a chance to complete what Bonaparte said. Achievements.

And even if you don't consider your own promotion, just getting an investment of several million livres for the city of Marseille is enough to make Mayor Josip more prestigious in front of the businessmen, factory owners, and subordinate bureaucrats. It’s been a while.

When he thought of this, Mayor Yosip's heartbeat accelerated again, and he couldn't suppress his smile and said:

"I, I simply don't know what to say. Your Majesty Bonaparte, I really want to thank you for your love for me and the whole of Marseille. On behalf of the entire city hall, I assure you that we will not let you down."

"Oh don't worry, Mr. Alderman."

Lawrence suddenly waved his hand to interrupt Mayor Joseph's chest-beating assurance, and said with a smile:

"This is a big investment, and it can't be settled so easily."

Mayor Joseph's movements froze for a moment, like a child playing a wooden man game. Then he stopped smiling, frowned and asked:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, how do you want to confirm it?"

"To be honest, this is my first time coming to Marseille and my first time dealing with Marseille City Hall."

Lawrence slowly shook his head and said:

"I don't mean to offend you and all the bureaucrats at the Marseille City Hall, but at the moment I cannot ensure that you have the ability to achieve this long-term and in-depth cooperation with Corsica. Unless... we can first have a successful and excellent cooperation ”

Mayor Joseph was also very shrewd. When Lawrence said this, he immediately took out his memo and quill, put his gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, and asked seriously:

"What kind of cooperation do you want to do first?"

Lawrence couldn't help but smile and nodded when he saw Mayor Yosip being so polite. He slowly stretched out five fingers and said:

"For five hundred thousand livres, I would like to entrust the Marseille City Hall to purchase and prepare a batch of food for me. I only need the poorest black bread and black beans. It will be delivered in about a month."

At the current prices in France, about five suls of copper coins can barely feed an adult for a day with the poorest food.

Calculated in this way, if we ignore procurement, transportation and other expenses, this 500,000 livres of food is enough to prevent 100,000 people from starving to death for more than half a month. Of course, in reality, this number will only be lower. .

The purpose of Lawrence's request to allocate this batch of grain was naturally to cope with the famine in the Kingdom of Naples.

"Brown bread and black beans, delivered in a month. Well I'll make a note of it."

Mayor Joseph recited Lawrence's words and recorded them in the booklet, then raised his head and said confidently:

"It's August now, which happens to be the harvest time for farmland in the areas around Marseille, so the price of food won't be too high. A large piece of black bread baked this month should only cost five suls. As for black beans."

"No, no, Mr. Alderman."

Lawrence interrupted Mayor Joseph again, shook his head and said:

"I don't care and don't want to know what the current price of food is in Marseille. I only know that in one month, Corsica will pay half a million livres to the Marseille City Hall, and the City Hall will deliver the food to Corsica. Xijia. As for how much food is delivered, it depends on your ability. "

"Our capabilities"

Mayor Joseph was stunned for a moment, and then looked at Lawrence with bitterness in his eyes.

Mayor Josip, who has been in the political world for decades, knows all too well that His Excellency Bonaparte is not so much testing the ability of the Marseille City Hall as it is testing their sincerity.

The funding of half a million livres has been fixed. It would be unreasonable if the amount of grain delivered by Mayor Josip after one month is lower than the amount converted according to market price.

But Mayor Yosip also knew that purchasing such a large amount of black bread and black beans was not an easy task. The various expenses involved in the process, whether it was warehousing and transportation or establishing relations with the merchant guild, were all a burden. Big expenses.

If Mayor Josip really only used the five hundred thousand livres to purchase, the final amount must be less than the market price, and the implication of His Excellency Bonaparte is obviously that the more The better.

In other words, the Marseille City Hall will have to pay a large sum of money for this.

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, why don't you stipulate a certain amount, so that it will be easier for us to make a contract."

Mayor Yosip looked at Lawrence's face and suggested carefully.

After hearing this, Lawrence narrowed his eyes slightly, exhaled slowly, and said in a deep voice:

"Mr. Mayor, Corsica needs to reach cooperation with a French port city, but that does not mean that this city is Marseille. Nice in the east may also be a good choice."

Nice is a city more than 150 kilometers east of Marseille. It is also a prosperous seaside port city and the fifth largest city in France after Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse.

“This route from Bastia in Corsica to Nice takes one-third less time than from Ajaccio to Marseille.”

Lawrence stared at the bitter-faced Mayor Joseph and said:

"From a geographical point of view, it may be better for Corsica to choose Nice. The mayor of Nice will not turn away Corsicans, right?"

"I"

Mayor Josip was immediately speechless. There was already competition between Nice and Marseille. If the city hall and the citizens of Marseille learned that their mayor had made such an investment in Nice, Mayor Josip would be afraid. You will lose all face.

"And, Mr. Alderman."

Lawrence put away his serious expression and smiled kindly and said:

"If Corsica and Marseille can continue to cooperate for a long time, there will be many opportunities for communication between the two of us. And if during this period, I happen to discover some extraordinary talents in you, then I will be very happy. I am pleased to recommend an outstanding person to His Majesty the King and the Duke of Choiseul.”

"You, you mean?!"

Mayor Josip was once again speechless, but this time it was because of the overwhelming excitement.

He excitedly stretched out his index finger and pointed at it, then clenched his fists and asked repeatedly:

"You mean to say that you agree to recommend me to the Duke of Choiseul?"

Lawrence smiled and said ambiguously:

"If you can cooperate with us and make our cooperation always happy and successful, I will have no reason to overuse such an excellent manager."

After saying that, Lawrence stretched out his hand and clicked on Mayor Joseph's memo, and said with a faint smile:

"Start from this time."

Mayor Yosip glanced down at the contents of the memo, nodded twice to show that he understood, and then carefully placed the memo in his desk drawer.

Mayor Yosip has little room for hesitation when it comes to his political future.

Seeing Mayor Yosip nod in agreement, Lawrence knew that he could be treated as half of his own, and the handle he cared about most was already in Lawrence's hands.

As for why the Marseille City Hall was given half a million livres to ask it to purchase as much food as possible, this was not because Lawrence deliberately made things difficult for Mayor Josip and wanted to test his sincerity, but was the result of Lawrence's careful consideration.

According to Lawrence's estimate, given the Marseille City Hall a month, the amount of food they could raise and distribute would be around half a million livres.

Even if Lawrence increases the purchase amount, it will be difficult for the people in the city hall to allocate more food in such a short period of time, unless they encroach on the interests of farmers and citizens in the Marseille area, but this is a consequence that Lawrence does not want to see. After all, he has regarded Marseille as an important base for the future.

Moreover, Lawrence expects that the situation in Naples may change at any time, so he can only give the Marseille City Hall one month.

"By the way, Your Excellency Bonaparte, let me ask you a question."

Mayor Joseph put the memo away, picked up the wine bottle and filled Lawrence's glass, and then asked curiously:

"The grain you requested to purchase is intended to be exported to the Kingdom of Naples, right? But I have also mentioned to you that the Kingdom of Naples has increased the tariff on grain imports. I am afraid that your profit from exporting this batch of food will not be much in the past. ah."

"That's true, but although money is important, it's not the most important."

Lawrence took the full wine glass and said with a smile:

"So this shipment of grain to the Kingdom of Naples was not for profit."

"Not for profit? What is that for?" Mayor Yosip asked with a frown.

"Mr. Alderman, an Eastern minister once said something, which roughly means"

Lawrence said slowly:

"People in the cold are happy to wear short shirts, and hungry people are happy to eat chaff. People in the world are crying for food, which is the best asset of a new monarch."